


Never Leave Me Behind

by fineandwittie



Category: The Fast Saga, The Fast and the Furious
Genre: Brian goes to prison, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Torture, M/M, Prison
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:48:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24634102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fineandwittie/pseuds/fineandwittie
Summary: Brian doesn't run at the end of Furious 1. Instead, he goes to prison.
Relationships: Brian O'Conner/Dominic Toretto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 250





	Never Leave Me Behind

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I'd Rather Die](https://archiveofourown.org/works/863205) by [AshesLane (Cloud_Nine)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloud_Nine/pseuds/AshesLane). 



> I read a fic with this plot and loved the idea so much I had to try it. It's unbeta'd, but I do occasionally edit posted work after the fact, so let me know if there is anything amiss. Hope you like it! I'm drowning in this fandom.

Brian knew, in the same way he knew his own name, in the same way he knew that the sky was blue and the grass grew green, that Dominic Toretto hated him. He could see it in his eyes, hear it in his voice, felt it rolling off the big man like waves of heat the last time he’d seen him. Well, up until he’d helped drag Dom out the window of the broken wreck of the Charger. The hatred had soured to fear then. The kind of existential terror that led to prison suicide statistics that made the news on slow nights. 

Dom should _never_ be afraid. And Brian wasn’t going to let that shit go. Dom had said he’d die before he went back to prison. Brian could not tolerate that. So he’d handed over his keys, praying that Dom was well enough to drive, and resigned himself to his fate. 

He watched the orange Supra peal out as it took the corner, thinking that that would be the last time he’d see the man he’d fallen in love with. He turned away, trying to calculate how much longer he could expect to live. The team had scattered, Mia the only one left and he’d be damned if he let them have her. He’d been on the truck. Hell, he’d looked the driver in the eye. He knew the man could clock him.

Dom was free. Dom and Leon and Letty. Jesse was dead. For a moment, he couldn’t breathe, but he pushed the thought away. Jesse was dead and there was no hope for Vince. If he lived through his injuries, he was likely doing time, unless Brian could think of something. The truck driver might be looking at some hard time too. He’d shot an unarmed man.

So the only one standing, really, was him. He’d killed Johnny Tran, deliberately and with malice aforethought. He’d aided and abetted in the escape of a criminal. He figured there was probably a whole host of other things they would charge him with. He’d plead no contest. He’d take this one for the team. And he’d die in prison.

Because that’s what dirty cops did.

He was still there, sitting numbly on the crumpled hood of Dom’s car, and staring at nothing, when the police finally caught up.

He’d identified himself, name and badge number, and climbed willingly into the back of the squad car.

His trial made the national news and all the papers. Everyone loved to hate a dirty cop. He refused to testify. Refused to try and explain himself. The face he presented to the media and the court was stone-cold and heartless. He stopped looking in the mirror because he never recognized himself anymore. It didn’t matter what he looked like anyway.

The day of the sentencing, Mia was there. She was all dressed in black and looked beautiful. Brian felt something for the first time since the day he’d given her brother his keys. Love, affection, pain, jealousy, despair…he wasn’t quite sure, but he hated her for a moment. For forcing him to feel. For stealing his numb. 

Because it hadn’t settled back in by the time the judge read off his sentence. 

_Eight years in San Quentin Maximum Security Prison._

With possible parole after five years.

Brian almost laughed, terror clawing its way up his throat. He’d be lucky to last five months, never mind five years. He didn’t turn to look at Mia, who had choked off a sob at the announcement. He pushed and pushed and pushed, until everything was back inside that box, and he locked it away tight. 

If he was going to die, then he was damn well not going to make it easy.

*********

Four years, nine months, and twelve days later, Brian was released from San Quentin. He’d gotten out early for good behavior. 

Even thinking about the ‘good behavior’ he’d experienced made him sick to his stomach, so he just…didn’t think about it. He moved through the release protocols like a dead man, listless and stiff, not really paying any attention to anything. He’d signed some paperwork, received a duffle bag with his old clothes in it, and been escorted to the door. He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the idea that he’d managed to survive. Honestly, he knew it was down to Hector and his crew. A couple of the guys he’d used to race with were inside and they’d protected him as best they could for a while. 

After that he’d established his own reputation. And spent a week in solitary for it.

Brian had liked solitary. No one looked at him when he was in the hole and the only people he had to watch out for were the guards. It was easier.

Brian shook off the memories and stepped out through the open door. He had no idea where he was going or how he would get there. His apartment was gone, which meant that all his shit was gone. He figured that should hurt more, but it didn’t really. He’d had a hand full of photos of family and of him and Rome, but that was about it. Everything he’d cared about was long gone, so what did stuff matter?

The sun was blinding in a way that it wasn’t in the yard. He didn’t really understand how that could be, but he’d learned not to question things.

He took two steps out into the sun and blinked until his eyes adjusted. Sitting across the street was a car. The engine turned over when he noticed its presence, but no one got out. Brian blinked again and turned away.

He figured there had to be some kind of bus stop near by. Maybe he could talk the driver into letting him ride for a bit. He hadn’t made it ten steps down the road, however, when the idling car honked at him. He turned back.

The thing was black and massive. A Pontiac GTO and if pressed, Brian would guess it was late 60s. It pulled up along side and the driver’s window rolled down.

“Christ.” Brian’s eyes went wide and he gaped at the driver.

“Get in the car, Brian.” Dominic Toretto said, voice low and even.

Brian blinked at him again and started to laugh. It was high pitched and hysterical. Dom flinched back from it, which made Brian laugh harder. “Jesus fuck.” Dom muttered, shaking his head. “Man, you can have a breakdown later. Get in the damned car.”

With a few hiccuping gulps, Brian managed to quell the mad laughter. He climbed into the car. It wasn’t like he had anywhere else to go. It wasn’t like he had any kind of life to go back to. No one was waiting for him. No one even cared. So, he got into Dom’s car and once again resigned himself to dying.

They drove away from San Quentin Prison Complex, going exactly the speed limit. Dom was wearing sunglasses and he’d grown a goatee. Brian thought he was still the best looking man he’d ever seen, but at least the security cameras would have a hard time scanning his face. 

Brian settled back into his seat.

“You went down for us.” Dom said, finally, when the silence in the car was too oppressive, even for him. 

Brian shrugged, but didn’t speak. He hadn’t smiled since he’d walked out of the prison. Dom missed it like a limb, like air.

“Why?”

This time, Brian turned his head to stare at Dom. The expression on his face said quite clearly that Dom was a moron. Which was fine, Dom thought. He felt like a moron. Nothing new for Dom, whenever Brian was around. 

“Why? You’re joking, right? Or do you just want to force me to say it? Give you another reason to kick the shit out of me and leave me for dead?”

Dom flinched again, feeling his heart seize up. That’s what Brian thought this was? He thought…what? Dom was out for some kind of revenge? Jesus, Dom thought, the slam had really done a number on him. But he didn’t speak. Just glanced at Brian out of the corner of his eye.

“Fine. Fine. You wanna know? I’m in love with you, you piece of shit. I couldn’t let you go back. I couldn’t let it break you or kill you. I couldn’t. So I traded my life away for you.” Brian turned his face away and gritted his teeth.

Dom sat with that. He’d hoped. He’d hoped that that was the reason, but he’d never actually believed it. They say that hope is a thing with feathers and Dom knew that well. It fluttered hard inside his chest, making his heartbeat stumble. 

“Bri, I—“

“Don’t.” Brian was abruptly vibrating with some uncontrollable thing. Dom glanced at him again, not understanding the change. “Don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me that anymore.”

Dom swallowed, his throat feeling like it was wrapped in barbed wire. So Brian was in love with him and hated it. “I’m sorry. Brian, I’m sorry. I never meant for you to go to prison in my place. I never wanted—“

“I don’t care what you wanted. Toretto, there was nothing else I could have done. You left me behind and there was nothing else.”

The words hit Dom in the chest like a series of fists. He swallowed hard, twice, three times, trying to quell the bile rising in his throat. _You left me behind._

“Brian…” Dom’s voice broke. “I’m sorry.”

Brian shook his head. “Stop fucking apologizing. What do you even want? I’m getting the idea that you aren’t here to kill me for betraying you, so what the hell did you come for?”

“You.” Was the simplest answer. Dom went with that instead of trying to explain the seething mess of emotion in his chest. “I came to bring you home.”

Brian snorted. It sounded like it hurt. “I don’t have a home. I don’t have anything. I lost every single thing I ever had or wanted when I gave you those keys.”

Dom’s scalp prickled, a fear response he hadn’t had in years. “Do you regret it?” His voice cracked over the question.

Brian’s short bark of laughter was bitter and hard. “I spent four years, nine months, twelve days, and thirty five minutes in a maximum security prison. I was a cop, a _dirty_ cop. You know exactly what that means. You know what happened to me inside, I know you do.” Brian paused. 

Dom’s chest felt like it was full of broken glass. He did know. Lompoc was a low security prison, so there hadn’t been anyone like Brian inside. But guys told stories. What happened to dirty cops inside, when the inmates think they’re cops and the guards think they’re traitors. There was almost nowhere inside that was safe for someone like Brian. Only the hole and if he was getting out early, then he hadn’t spent much time there. So, nearly five years in with the rest of the population. Dom might be sick. Wasn’t sure he could control his gullet.

“I would do everything all over agin. I would hand you the keys a hundred times over, if it kept you safe. If I’d been killed inside, I still would have given you the keys. In fact, I was prepared for that when I handed them over. I love you, Dom, and there’s nothing that’s going to change that.”

Dom only realized that he’d been holding his breath when he suddenly finds himself gasping for air. His hands are shaking and he’s lightheaded. _Fuck_. They were already out on the highway, so he pulled the car over onto a shoulder before he accidentally killed them both. 

He flexed his hands on the steering wheel for a moment before turning to Brian. Brian wasn’t looking out the window anymore, but he still didn’t seem willing to meet Dom’s eyes. His face, so expressive and so quick to light with a smile in Dom’s memory, was blank.

“Brian…That crash fucked me up. I wasn’t…I wasn’t thinking clearly. I barely managed to make it over the border before I passed out. I had a concussion and…well, a bunch of other shit. It didn’t even occur to me that I should have taken you with me until the next day. Mia called me, hysterical. You’d been arrested, she told me, and they were pinning all the hijackings on you, since you were the only one left. Christ, Bri, you told the cops that Vince had tried to stop you. You took it all on yourself, even though you _knew_ what was going to happen to you. I couldn’t…I wanted to rip the face off that Fed who kept talking on the TV. I wanted to bury him so deep, no one would ever find him. I trashed a couple of rooms at the house, trying to work off some of the rage. It was…so similar to Linder, except I couldn’t actually touch him. It hurt. Knowing that it was all my fault. That you were stuck there, that you could be killed, because of me. Because I’d been too stupid or too blind to…to ask you to come with me. To take that risk.” 

Brian opened his mouth to speak, but Dom raised a hand. “I gotta finish or I’m never gonna. Please.” Brian nodded, subsiding back into his seat. “Listening to you make that call out in the desert…It felt like dying. It felt like you’d dug into my guts and ripped out everything inside me. You’d lied to me and suddenly everything you ever said was fake. A lie constructed to pull me in. And it’d worked. I’ve never trusted anyone as quickly or as deeply as I did you. We’ve known each other, if you count in actual days spent in each other’s company, for maybe…What? Six weeks? Two months, max? It took a tiny fraction of that time for me to fall for you, Brian. But I thought you were there for Mia, so I kept as much distance as I could. I saw the way you looked at me, but lust isn’t love. And I couldn’t be sure that I wasn’t misinterpreting. People…seem drawn to me and I didn’t want to take that risk and find out it was like Jesse’s hero worship. Loyalty and awe, but nothing more than that. I didn’t want to risk losing you altogether. And then suddenly, you were a cop and a liar and I thought I understood those looks then. You didn’t want me. You wanted to arrest me. I felt so foolish, so blinded by my feelings for you. But then you shot Tran, kill shot. You weren’t a cop then. I was so...full, of rage, hatred, confusion, love. I just...I never intended to flip the Charger, but everything that happened after is a little hazy. I honestly don’t even really remember getting out of the car. It’s all just…sense memories and spikes of fear. Like I said, I didn’t realize I’d left you behind until the following day, when my head cleared. By which point it was already too late.”

It was Dom’s time to pause. He swallowed, feeling jittery, and trying to moisten the desert that had taken up residence in his mouth. Brian was staring at him with wide eyes, his lips parted.

“I’ve been waiting for you. I kept tabs on you through Hector, made sure his guys stuck to you as much as they could, as long as they could. Mia called me when your release was set. She wanted to pick you up herself, but there was no way I was going to abandon you again. So, the way I see it, you’ve got a couple of choices. You can stay here. Mia’s got a room at 1327 ready if you want it. Go to your parole meetings for however long you’re required to and take over the store or the shop for her. You’d have a job and a place to stay and Mia, I think, if you wanted.”

Brian swallowed, loud in the suddenly quiet car. “Or?” He croaked, sounding a little like he was drowning.

“Or I take you home. To Baja. With me. Leon and Letty and Vince all live in town. We’ve got a garage going. Mia comes down to visit once every six months or so. We’ve got cousins in the area, which is what she tells anyone who asks. Again, you’d have a home and a job…and me. If you want. If you don’t hate loving me so much as I think you do.”

Brian sucked in a sharp breath and choked on it. His eyes, his electric eyes, were shining with emotion and tears. There were still shadows lurking there, things that had happen to him inside that were never going to fade, but there was a smile starting on his mouth. Dom thought the relief might kill him. “Hate that— Jesus, we are such shit at communicating. Okay, no more sidestepping. I am in love with you. I want to fuck you and I want you to fuck me. Just to be clear. If I come to Baja, I’m going to want to…share a bed, for a start, but mostly share a life with you. No more lies, no more excuses, no more going it alone. For either of us. Do you want that too?”

Dom’s breath stuttered, but he managed to push the words out. “Yes. Please, yes.”

Brian reached over and threaded their fingers together. His smile, the one he used to wear so often, was back and Dom’s heart cracked just a little at the crashing wave of relief that swept over him. “Brian, Bri, I love you. Fuck, man. I can’t think, can’t breath, sometimes with how in love with you I am. Let’s…do something crazy. Let’s get married or Jesus, I don’t know. Anything you want, but come to Baja. I promise never to leave you again.”

And Brian nodded. “Anything. Dom, for you, anything. Always."


End file.
